No Quest for the Wicked

by Shanna Swendson

  “No, it’s fine,” I lied. It was showy—rather gaudy, actually—but this wasn’t a jewel for looks. It was a jewel for power. Well, the real one was.

  She patted her hair, touched up her lipstick one last time, then said, “Now I suppose I’d better get back there. The guests will be arriving soon.” She frowned, and I again held my breath, worried about why she was frowning. “You–you don’t think they’re making fun of me for that little episode, do you?” she asked hesitantly. “I mean, imagining gargoyles! How silly!”

  “I’m sure they understand completely,” I said. “They know the kind of pressure you’re under.”

  “Yes, of course,” she said, standing a little straighter. But she was still frowning.

  It pained me to leave without the box, but we’d have to take our chances without it. I stuck close to her on the way back to the event space, hoping she wouldn’t feel the loss of the brooch as long as it was nearby.

  As we went down in the elevator, she said, “Katie, be honest with me, are you really undercover here, or is this the only job you could get?”

  “Oh, I’m definitely undercover,” I said. “I’m a terrible waitress. Let’s just say it’s a security situation.”

  “Who do you work for, FBI? CIA? Homeland Security?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say, but there are initials involved.”

  “How did you go from being a marketing assistant to that?”

  “My unique talents were recognized.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh.”

  As we entered the gallery adjacent to the courtyard, we nearly ran into Owen, who was heading in our direction like he was on an urgent mission. As soon as he saw us, he abruptly changed course, turning his back to us to look at a piece of medieval artwork. I kept walking Mimi toward the courtyard, then said, “Now, are you going to be okay?”

  She took a couple of deep, long breaths, then nodded. “Yes, I think so.”

  “Okay, then, have a good event, and I’ll keep an eye on things for you.”

  As soon as she was gone, Owen and I rushed toward each other. “I got it!” I whispered when I reached him.

  “Yes!” he exulted, throwing his arms around me and giving me a big kiss. Then he took me by the arm and said, “We’d better get out of here.”

  “What about the others?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder as he walked me toward the next gallery.

  “We’re safer away from them now that we have the brooch.”

  “My grandmother will never forgive you.”

  “She will if I keep you safe. And to do that, we have to get out before anyone notices that the Eye’s gone.”

  Before we even reached the next gallery, Mimi’s voice echoed through the museum, shrieking, “My brooch! It’s been stolen!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “That was sooner than I expected,” Owen said, hurrying us into the next small gallery in the chain that led to the exit. It was full of religious medieval artwork, and I hoped some of that holy mojo would rub off on us. We needed all the help we could get.

  We practically ran through the smaller galleries into a large, open space full of even more medieval art. It felt like we were running down the central aisle of a cathedral full of relics. Now we had a straight shot to the exit. Then there came a strange rustling, whooshing noise behind us, and I was afraid to look back, for fear of what I’d see. Owen didn’t look back, either. He was running full-speed while on his phone with Sam. “Yeah, we’ve got it and we’re coming out, so we’ll need cover.” There was a pause, and then he added, “Yes, I noticed.” He pulled me quickly along as he ended the call. “Sam says the old gargoyles are on their way.”

  “I thought that’s what I heard.”

  “Rod and Granny have them bottlenecked, but some got through. Sam’s sending help.”

  I hoped help would come soon enough because the zombie gargoyles were now diving at us, and the only saving grace was that they were slow and clunky enough for us to dodge them. As we ran, I said to Owen, “Will the Knot protect me, even if I don’t have any magic for it to work with?

  He ducked, then pulled me out of the way as a gargoyle dive-bombed me. “I don’t know, but something tells me you’ll find out soon.”

  Now I could see the Great Hall ahead of us. We were nearly out of the museum. That made me wonder something … “Where are the puritans?” I asked. “You’d think they’d want to stop us from ruining their party by running away with the brooch.”

  I should have known better than to say anything, since that was as good as summoning them. As soon as we came into the Great Hall, a group of men there rushed at us. They tried a magical attack first, obviously not realizing we were immune. The magic didn’t do much to us, but we were caught between them and the zombie gargoyles.

  That’s when I learned that, no, the Knot didn’t protect magical immunes. The gargoyles were able to clutch at my clothing and hit me when they dove at me. “This is not fair!” I shouted as I fought to fend them off. “I get all the bad effects of this thing without any of the good ones!”

  The puritans soon overwhelmed us and had us pinned with our arms behind our backs, just as the front doors of the museum opened and the guests began arriving. Instead of dragging us away or trying to take the brooch from us, the puritans forced us to stand there as the rich and powerful entered the museum for the gala.

  I screamed for help, but the puritans must have magically hidden us because the first few arrivals didn’t seem to notice us. The Eye must have still had its usual effect because a woman in an evening gown I thought was rather frumpy veered abruptly off the red carpet and headed straight for me with a truly frightening gleam in her eye. I struggled against my captor while a man ran after the woman, shouting, “Senator! Senator! Where are you going?” He caught her before she reached me, much to my relief. She’d looked like she’d have gladly cut my throat to get to the brooch.

  No sooner had she been herded away from us than a tall, powerfully built man with a million-dollar smile came our way. He didn’t look quite as crazed, but he also didn’t look like he could be steered away by a mere aide. I wasn’t sure a brick wall would stop him.

  A stone gargoyle, however, was another story.

  Something winged dropped from the ceiling, coming between me and the powerful man. In the glare of the lights from outside, I couldn’t tell at first if it was one of ours or one of the zombies, but then I noticed that it moved too fluidly to be a zombie. I was close enough to feel the tingle of magic as the gargoyle gave the man a jolt that sent him back onto the red carpet.

  At the same time, other bursts of magic forced our captors to free us. “C’mon, kids, let’s go!” a familiar voice said. I’d never been so glad to see Sam, and he’d come to my rescue many a time. “Out the back way,” the gargoyle continued. “It would be a feeding frenzy if you took the Eye out the front door near that power-hungry throng.”

  While Sam’s team held off the puritans and their zombie gargoyles, Sam escorted us through the side galleries, back the way we’d originally come in. There was no sign of the fierce fighting that had taken place there earlier. Obviously, the gargoyle corpses had all been reanimated, but the fire, water, and thorny vines were all gone, too.

  We paused in the stairwell to catch our breath. I hoped I didn’t look as bad as Owen did. His shirt was torn, he had a red patch on his jawline that would probably develop into a bruise, and blood trickled down his temple from a cut on his forehead. His clothes were disheveled, and his hair was even messier than it got when he was stuck on an intellectual problem and running his fingers through it. And yet, even though he was a total mess, he also looked disturbingly hot that way.

  I was afraid to look at the condition of my tights, my hair probably looked like a bird’s nest after the gargoyles had dug into it, and I had enough stinging, sore spots on my body to indicate that I probably had as many cuts and bruises as Owen. I decided that if I lived through this, I was taking tomorrow o
ff.

  “I should have looked harder for the box,” I said. “That would have made this a lot easier.”

  “You got the brooch. That’s the important part,” Owen reassured me.

  “So, now where do we go?” I asked.

  “We need to get away from people.”

  “Yeah, I’m guessing we probably don’t want to plunge into the Upper East Side with this thing,” I agreed. “There might be riots.”

  “Into the park,” he suggested. “This time of night, the population’s pretty sparse.”

  “And the drunks and druggies aren’t known for their ambition,” I added.

  Sam, who’d been keeping watch, said, “Okay, kids, time to go. I think some of our friends have made it past my guys.”

  With a groan of dismay, I forced myself away from the wall that had been holding me up. We ran down the stairs and into the parking garage. Sam had magically sealed the doors behind us, but the zombie gargoyles just burst through. Sam and his security gargoyles hampered our enemies while we ran up the driveway to the sidewalk and then aimed for the nearest park entrance.

  There were still a few of the zombie gargoyles pursuing us as we raced down Fifth Avenue, but once we plunged into the park, we had some cover among the trees. We got off the paths and ran an indirect route, keeping to the tree cover and away from the lights. I hoped Owen knew where he was going because all I could tell in the darkness was that we had crossed Seventy-ninth Street.

  I’d developed a stitch in my side, and I was gasping for each breath, but I kept running as well as I could, with Owen practically dragging me along. This was more intense exercise than I was used to, but Owen sounded like he was barely breathing hard. I could still hear gargoyles overhead, and I figured if they were ours, they’d give us the all-clear and guide us to safety, so I didn’t have any choice but to keep running.

  At least no late-evening joggers had yet tried to mug me to get at the brooch, and none of the brooch-crazy museum gala power brokers seemed to have followed us. Our situation wasn’t ideal, but it could have been much worse.

  Eventually, we lost the zombie gargoyles. We stumbled down a hillside, then Owen stopped me while he stepped over a low fence before lifting me up and over it. Nearby was a bridge that spanned a footpath, creating a tunnel. We ran under the bridge and paused, holding our breath while we waited to see if anything came in after us.

  When it seemed like the coast was clear, Owen sank back against the side of the tunnel and I leaned on him, gulping for air in great, shuddering breaths. He put his arms around me, lightly at first, as though for comfort or security, but after we’d both settled down a little and I no longer felt like I was going to collapse, he pulled me against himself in a big hug.

  “You did it!” he whispered. Then he gave me a big kiss before adding, “You’re amazing! How did you pull that off?”

  “It was incredibly difficult and dangerous. I should get a medal, or something.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I was—get this—nice to Mimi.”

  “Really?” He looked skeptical.

  “I helped her calm down after that freakout when the gargoyles attacked. I made her take off her jacket so she could wash her face, and while she was in the bathroom, I switched the brooches.”

  “So you didn’t have to hit her or tranquilize her, or anything?”

  “I know! I’m actually kind of disappointed. Maybe I should have tranquilized her. Then I’d have had time to find that protective box so we wouldn’t have everyone after us, and if she’d been unconscious for a while, it would have taken longer for her to realize she had the wrong brooch.”

  “It’s better to have one more dart.”

  “But if I’d had the box, we wouldn’t have evil zombie gargoyles and rich people and probably eventually elves and wizards chasing us.”

  “Getting the brooch was the goal, and nobody else was able to manage even that much.”

  “What do we do with it now? Last thing I heard, there weren’t any active volcanoes in the greater New York area.”

  “I’m not sure that would work. That sounds like the sort of thing Merlin would have tried back in his day.” He got out his phone and added, “Speaking of whom, I’d probably better call this in.” He dialed the number, then held the phone so we could both hear the call. “We got it!” he said when Merlin answered. “Well, Katie got it. But we have it now. Should we bring it to the office?”

  “No!” I couldn’t help but flinch away from the phone, I was so shocked by the vehemence of Merlin’s response. “That would be most unwise. A building full of powerful and ambitious wizards—including myself—would be the worst place for the Eye. I don’t suppose you also got the protective box?”

  I leaned closer to the phone. “No, I tried, but I didn’t have much time to search.”

  “Ah, pity. Are you safe now?”

  “For the moment, yes,” Owen said. “I don’t know how long we can stay here, though. We tried to get as far away from people as possible, but I’m sure they’ll track us down before long.”

  “Stay there as long as you can. I’m creating a new box, and once the protective spells are complete, I’ll have it delivered to you. When you have it encased, you’ll be able to bring it to your manuscript room, where you can lock it in the safe with the Ephemera. That room is so carefully warded that the Eye should be secure there until we can find a way to destroy it.”

  “How much longer do we need to hold on?” Owen asked.

  “I have at least an hour’s worth of work to do. These wards are tricky, and I need to ensure that even I can’t break them. It’s a shame I don’t have your assistance, as I recall you’re quite good with wards.”

  “If I were able to help you with wards, you wouldn’t dare let me anywhere near the Eye or anything designed to protect the Eye,” Owen said. “Too many people would see that as suspicious.” He took a deep breath, then said, “Okay, then, we’ll try to hold on for an hour. Call me when you’re ready to deliver the box to us.”

  When he ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket, I leaned against him again, and he settled his arm around me. “Do you think we can just hide out for an hour?” I asked.

  “I doubt it. We may have about twenty minutes here, and then we’ll have to find another hiding place. If we stay on the move and stay away from people, we might be able to last until we can get that box.”

  “Those are big ifs, considering that all we can do is run. We don’t have magic, and it probably wouldn’t be safe to let anyone with magic near the Eye. I’d rather fight our enemies than our friends.”

  “Yeah, I’m right there with you.” He was silent for a moment, then he said, “You do know what our priority is, right? Keep that brooch safe and under your control, no matter what. Don’t worry about me. Guard the brooch.”

  “I seem to recall that we’ve had a similar conversation before.”

  “And I was right then, too. You saved the day by focusing on the mission.”

  “Yay, me,” I said weakly. “But you know that leaving you behind almost killed me. I don’t want to ever be in a situation like that again.”

  “I’m not saying that I want to be left behind and attacked so the mission can be completed. But I think it’s best if you have the brooch, and that means you’ve got to get the job done. And that reminds me, this is as good a place as any for that talk we’ve been needing to have.”

  “What talk?” I said, trying to play innocent.

  “The one you’ve been avoiding. So, come on, Katie, tell me, what’s wrong? You’ve obviously been unhappy about something.”

  “It’s not you, not at all.”

  “Okay, then, what is it? Because if you don’t tell me, then I’ll assume it really is me, and then you know me, I’ll mope. I might even clean my house.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Oh, no, we can’t have that!” I sighed, then said, “Okay, if you want to know, I think I kind of hate my job.
It’s so trivial with all that’s happened to you and now this whole Eye business, but there you have it. I’m so bored I could scream. Not now, obviously, but this isn’t part of my regular job. It’s been sheer torture coming to work every day for the last few months, ever since we beat the last round of bad guys.”

  “Why haven’t you said anything?”

  “Like I said, it seems so trivial. And besides, I’m on at least my third assignment since coming to work for MSI, and I haven’t even worked there a whole year.”

  “What is it that you hate, aside from the boredom?”

  I had to think about that. The boredom was so mind-numbing that it was hard to get beyond it to see anything else. “Mostly, I don’t think I’m getting to use my abilities. You recruited me because I’m immune to magic, and that has nothing to do with my current job. Anyone of any level of magical or nonmagical ability could do my job. I have the skills for it because the only job I could find when I moved to New York was as an administrative assistant in a marketing department. It’s like, oh, I don’t know, say that they put you to work just setting wards. That’s something you’re good at that you’ve had a lot of practice with, but it wastes your real skill, which is translating ancient texts and ferreting out the parts of the old spells that might be useful.”

  “I see your point. You are being wasted. Maybe you should talk to Sam about something in security. A magical immune might come in handy, and you definitely have experience in dealing with bad guys and solving crimes.”

  “Security? Really? I’m not really the security type, am I?”

  “Let’s see, in the time you’ve been with the company, you’ve caught intruders, revealed a spy, and helped bring down the bad guys while evading the opposition. Sounds like security work to me.”

  “That could actually be kind of cool,” I said thoughtfully. “But you don’t think I’ll seem ungrateful to reject a job Merlin created for me?”